Dog alerts occupants of Oxnard home to a fire

A dog alerted four young adults to a fire inside an Oxnard home that had no smoke detectors, authorities said.

Oxnard firefighters responded to the scene in the 3500 block of San Simeon Avenue after getting a call about a fire at 1:46 a.m. Saturday, said Battalion Chief John Colamarino.

The fire was in the garage when crews arrived, he said, and live electric wires were down behind the house.

With the lack of smoke detectors in the home, the young adults were unaware of the fire, authorities said. However, a dog outside the home was able to get inside and woke one of the occupants, Colamarino said. The four occupants escaped from the house with no injuries, other than one whose hair was singed, but the dog remained in the house, Colamarino said.

After crews extinguished the blaze at 2:17 a.m., they rescued the dog, which survived, Colamarino said.

Investigators still were determining the cause, but the blaze did $175,000 worth of damage, he said, and made the house uninhabitable.

"It was a significant fire," he said.

Six Oxnard units responded, he said, as well as the Ventura County Fire Department's light/air unit, which provides lights on the scene and refills firefighters' air tanks.